Smart haptic gloves for virtual reality surgery simulation: a pilot study on external ventricular drain training

Jonah Boutin; Jafer Kamoonpuri; Reza Faieghi; Joon Chung; Sandrine de Ribaupierre; Roy Eagleson

doi:10.3389/frobt.2023.1273631

Smart haptic gloves for virtual reality surgery simulation: a pilot study on external ventricular drain training

Front Robot AI. 2024 Jan 10:10:1273631. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2023.1273631. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jonah Boutin¹, Jafer Kamoonpuri², Reza Faieghi², Joon Chung², Sandrine de Ribaupierre¹, Roy Eagleson³

Affiliations

¹ Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
² Department of Aerospace Engineering, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Smart haptic gloves are a new technology emerging in Virtual Reality (VR) with a promise to enhance sensory feedback in VR. This paper presents one of the first attempts to explore its application to surgical training for neurosurgery trainees using VR-based surgery simulators. We develop and evaluate a surgical simulator for External Ventricular Drain Placement (EVD), a common procedure in the field of neurosurgery. Haptic gloves are used in combination with a VR environment to augment the experience of burr hole placement, and flexible catheter manipulation. The simulator was integrated into the training curriculum at the 2022 Canadian Neurosurgery Rookie Bootcamp. Thirty neurosurgery residents used the simulator where objective performance metrics and subjective experience scores were acquired. We provide the details of the simulator development, as well as the user study results and draw conclusions on the benefits added by the haptic gloves and future directions.

Keywords: haptic feedback; haptics; surgery simulation; surgical education; virtual reality.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by Mitacs Accelerate and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant.